An approach to determine appropriate fab development plans by taking space constraints and cost-effectiveness into consideration

A procedure and decision-making criteria are proposed to make fab capacity expansion plans. Both technical and layout constraints are taken into consideration; LP model is used to arrange the tool combination. The approach was applied to a real fab that had inherent tools but planned to expand its capacity to more advanced technology. For simplicity, only the most expensive tools in a semiconductor fab, PHOTO tools, were considered to make the development plan in this study. However the methodology presented can be extended to a more complicated case. To determine an appropriate development plan, performance measures are necessary to compare the advantages of each plan. Decision making criteria are therefore proposed to help managers make decisions in complex environments. The approach yields benefit in that it provides a roadmap for capacity planners to make capacity expansion plan without missing any crucial constraints. And LP model serves as a prototype of taking capacity constraint and space limitation into consideration.